Edward Cooke's thought-provoking opinion piece published in The Law Society Gazette

10 April 2024

Edward Cooke’s latest opinion piece, 'Time for a revolution in how family solicitors are trained?'  has been published in The Law Society Gazette on 8 April 2024.

The article looks at the impact of two recent family justice announcements that, in Edward’s view, herald the start of a period of potentially great change in family law, with an ever-increasing focus on non-court dispute resolution. Edward explores the impact of these family justice announcements and highlights the need for training of family law solicitors to keep pace with the changes in the law, “Given the central focus on non-court dispute resolution, it would appear all family lawyers require some training in this area, but this does not always seem to be so.”

Edward sets out the key recommendations of the November 2020 Family Solutions Group (FSG) report on family law professional training, as well as the outcomes of the development work of Resolution’s Training and Learning Committee, which Edward co-chaired for three years until May 2023, in response to evolving training needs in the industry. The article explores the changing landscape of family law approaches, including non-court dispute resolution, collaborative law and mediation, and makes suggestions for how training approaches should evolve. Edward suggests that some training in non-court dispute resolution should be mandated.

You can read the full article here: ‘Time for a revolution in how family solicitors are trained?’.